A comparison of buprenorphine and pethidine in analgesic supplemented anaesthesia

A randomized trial comparing 2.5 and 5 micrograms/kilogram body weight of buprenorphine and 0.8 milligram/kilogram pethidine, intravenously for intraoperative use in a balanced anaesthetic technique, and for postoperative analgesia was carried out. Compared with pethidine, buprenorphine was shown to be a satisfactory analgesic for preoperative and postoperative use with little difference in the incidence of unwanted effects and much longer duration of action. Increasing the dose of buprenorphine did not give any significant advantage.